Child care's long-term impact

April 03, 2007

Defining quality child care can be difficult, says Laura A. Jana, a pediatrician in Omaha, Neb., who owns a day-care center. "Most people understandably turn to ratios, group sizes and education level as a way to define quality," she says. "But what we're really all trying to achieve is a nurturing environment that promotes bonding. Bonding trumps all else." A recent report from an ongoing national child-care study said the more time children spent in center-based care before kindergarten, the more likely their sixth-grade teachers were to report such problem behaviors as "gets in many fights," "disobedient at school" and "argues a lot." On the plus side, the study found that children who received higher-quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did children who received lower-quality care. But the increase in vocabulary and problem behaviors was small, the researchers reported. Parenting quality was a much more important predictor of child development than was type, quantity or quality of child care. The latest report from the study, by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, appears in the March/April issue of Child Development. "Limiting the number of children any one caregiver is responsible for is a reasonable way to try to promote more one-on-one interactions, but it certainly doesn't ensure that those interactions will be positive," Jana says. Researchers are following the children, measuring their development at intervals from birth through adolescence. In 1991, the researchers enrolled 1,364 children in the national study. Phase 1 of the study followed the children from birth to age 3. Now they are in Phase 4 and will follow more than 1,000 of the original families through age 15. The researchers look at the day-to-day experiences in the child-care setting -- how the kids interact with adults and their peers, and their activities with toys and other items. They also focus on quality by looking at adult-to-child ratio, group size and the training of the child-care provider. The researchers have developed a "Positive Caregiving Checklist" to help parents measure what kind of care their child is getting: -Is the caregiver generally in good spirits and encouraging when interacting with the child? Does the caregiver smile often at the child? -Does the caregiver hug the child, pat the child on the back or hold the child's hand? -Does the caregiver repeat the child's words, comment on what the child says or tries to say, and answer the child's questions? -Does the caregiver respond to the child's positive actions with positive words? -Does the caregiver encourage the child to repeat learning phrases, such as counting to 10? -Does the caregiver tell stories, describe objects or events and sing songs? -Does the caregiver encourage the child to smile, laugh and play with others? -Does the caregiver give examples of good behaviors? -Does the caregiver read books and stories to the child? For tips or questions, call (800) 827-1092, toll free anytime, or send an e-mail to p2ptips@att.net.PARENT TO PARENT BETSY FLAGLER